1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a comminuting machine comprising a closed working cylinder, having comminution holes and comprised of material with inherent stiffness, and comprising tools, arranged within the working cylinder and rotating relative to the working cylinder. The tools are seated on a shaft coaxial to the working cylinder and have vanes which revolve at a spacing of at most the diameter of the comminution holes practically contactless relative to the working cylinder and are slanted with their outer edges counter to the relative rotational direction. A machine housing which is connected to a channel system between a feed channel and a removal channel is provided.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such comminuting machines serve for comminuting soft to medium hard comminution material. For this purpose, a closed working cylinder provided with comminution holes is provided which is usually comprised of stainless steel.
In the interior of the working cylinder, tools are arranged which extends parallel to the surface lines of the working cylinder and rotate relative to the working cylinder at an at most minimal spacing from the wall of the working cylinder.
This relative rotation can be generated, on the one hand, for a stationary working cylinder with rotating tools and, on the other hand, with stationary tools and a rotating working cylinder. Moreover, working cylinder and tools can rotate independently, respectively, and in opposite directions to one another.
During this relative rotation the material to be comminuted is displaced by the tools in the direction toward the inner wall of the working cylinder and is thereby chipped by the comminution holes, as desired.
Such comminution machines, on the one hand, can operate in batch operation and, on the other hand, can be part of a stationary or quasi-stationary process.
In both situations the machine housing of the comminution machine is connected between a feed channel and a removal channel. In the case of a pure batch machine, the feed channel can be, for example, in the form of a fill hopper or the like, while in the case of stationary or quasi-stationary processes a continuous material flow is guided into the comminution machine via the feed channel.
Such comminution machines occasionally also require cleaning and maintenance.
For this purpose, the tools and working cylinder must be demounted.
This is occasionally a problem in conventional comminution machines because demounting of tools and working cylinder requires at the same time also demounting of the feed channel and the removal channel, respectively.
In this connection, granulating friction devices are known in which the orientation of the shaft on which the tools are fastened and the axial orientation of the working cylinder are vertical.
In this situation, the working cylinder and the tools, however, can be removed only vertically from the machine housing so that it is mandatory to also demount the feed channel and the removal channel, respectively.
However, this basic principle of the configuration should not necessarily be abandoned because in such comminution machines the principle of gravity feed has indeed proven successful. The goods to be processed herein according to this conveying principle are moved without any additional energy on their way from the feed channel to the removal channel, and, in this way, are forced through the working cylinder.
Moreover, so-called nibblers are known with which lumps and agglomerates can be comminuted. Even though the working principal is based on cutting and slicing, the working cylinders of such nibblers are usually not closed.
Moreover, such nibblers serve primarily for granulating goods which are present before the processing step in the form of lumps, clods, and agglomerates.
Moreover, sifting machines are known in which this screen is of a straight-cylindrical shape and has rotating tools in its interior. This device serves only for sifting predetermined particle sizes, wherein the material to be sifted is transported by means of feed screws or the like, specially provided for this purpose, into the interior of the screen.
However, special mention should be made of the fact that the tools of such sifting machines must rotate practically with wall contact in order to prevent the screen from becoming clogged.
Otherwise, such screens are relatively soft with regard to bending and cannot be used for cutting purposes for comminuting the material to be processed.
Accordingly, in such sifting machines the vane-shaped tools extend parallel to the surface lines of the screen cylinder but relative to the axis of rotation exactly radially because it is important that the material to be sifted can be pushed forwardly unhindered.